Truman State University’s virtual desktop environment is available to give you access to the same software and resources available in our public computer labs and classrooms from your personal computer system even if you live on campus or off campus.

The virtual desktop connection will give you a full screen remote connection to the same system that is available in our labs and classrooms. It will appear to you as if you are in front of a computer lab system. You can access any of the software on the current image, access your Y: drive, etc.

You must have a broadband connection to use the virtual desktops from off campus. It will not work over a dial-up connection.

This week’s Truman Tech Break features Poll Everywhere. Poll Everywhere is an application that lets you engage your audience or class anywhere in real time! Learn how to create polls that you can use in your next staff meeting or class to keep your participants engaged. Watch the brief video below to learn more!

In honor of the tradition of University Conference Day and its plethora of development options, our Truman Techbreak today is a full access pass to the 2015 PASSHE Virtual Conference: Transforming the Teaching & Learning Environment.

By following the link below, you will find a huge listing of the recorded sessions from this week’s conference AND the live sessions going on today and tomorrow. Sessions include topics such as “Digital Engagement for Student Success”, “Flip Classes & Lectures: We Know Why – But How?” and “Designing Authentic Assignments to Engage Students”.

To view the archives (recorded sessions) or to join a live session, you will be prompted to install the Blackboard Collaborate plug-in, this is quick download and install. We encourage you to also run the audio set-up wizard for the best results. For more detailed help/tips see the “Collaborate Instructions” on the left-hand menu on the Session List page.

We have access to the PASSHE Virtual Conference sessions not just this week, but through the end of March. That way, you can pick and choose the sessions you’d like to review, when you’d like to!

In next week’s Truman Techbreak, Instructional Designer, Susan Thomas will be back to discuss the just-in-time-teaching tool – Poll Everywhere – for those of you interested in getting feedback from your students or staff in the spur of the moment WITHOUT the use of dedicated clicker devices.

Please join Susan Thomas, Instructional Designer in the Learning Technologies Office, as she explains how to use Google Docs for file sharing and storing of information. This is the first in our Spring Series of video Tech Breaks intended to help you better understand some of the technology available here at Truman and how you might use it to your benefit. If you have a topic you would like to see explained, please contact the Learning Technologies Office at 660-785-7750 or e-mail them at ltt@truman.edu.

Truman State University, in order to maintain a safe campus environment, has an emergency notification system. You can sign up to receive Truman emergency alert text notifications in TruView, under the My Personal Information tab.

In addition to emergency alert text messages ITS is implementing an emergency alert notification system for Truman computers called Alertus. When an emergency alert text message is sent the alert message will now also be displayed on Truman computer systems.

The software that’s available for use in the campus computer labs is now also available for you to use from your computer’s web browser. In your browser go to: https://virtualdesktop.truman.edu/, login with your Truman userid and password and you will have access to a virtual desktop where you can use all computer lab software just like being physically present in the lab.

This is available from any web browser (PC, Mac, tablet etc) and if you are off campus a VPN connection is not required.

If you have any questions please contact the IT Service Center at x4544.

Originally scheduled for Wed. Nov. 19th, we are postponing this exciting workshop to the Spring 2015 Semester. Watch the Truman Today or the ITS Blog for an updated date!

Flipped/SCALE-UP Classrooms – This session will include discussion regarding strategies that can be implemented for combining technology, group work, and discussion to increase student participation and foster improved learning. Participants will be introduced to the options and strategies that would work in specific Truman classrooms. For background information – see the following links!

This is a reminder that academic classroom VCR support ends at winter break, approximately eight weeks from now. Any remaining classroom VCRs will be removed at that time. If you have not already updated your VCR/VHS based materials to a newer format, you need to do so right away.

In our previous communications (March, October and December 2013), we shared that the Pickler Media Library has been replacing many of the educational and feature film VHS titles with DVD format media. If you have VCR/VHS based materials that you still need to replace please contact Sharon Hackney at 785-7366 or shackney@truman.edu to make arrangements.

The ITS Service Center and the Learning Technologies staff can also provide guidance to anyone needing to make their VCR based academic materials available in DVD format. There are many issues present when dealing with copyrighted materials; copyright law, the TEACH Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act etc., and we will work with you to help you find the best legal solution for your existing VCR based materials.

We do recognize that there may be some instances where a VCR player is still needed on occasion, and the Pickler Library classroom (PL103) will be available as a group media viewing room (i.e., if needed, you can reserve this room to play VHS tapes).

If you have any questions please contact the ITS Service Center at x4544.

The Learning Technologies Team has now rescheduled our lynda.com workshop! It will be held next Wednesday, September 24th at 12:30 pm in the Multimedia Lab – PML204, right next to the IT Services Help Desk Area. We hope you can join us for a brief introduction to lynda.com and the many useful tutorials you can find on this website! We look forward to seeing you there!

Due to the variety of Events scheduled for today, the Learning Technologies Team has decided to postpone the lynda.com workshop. It will be rescheduled for a later date, to be announced in the near future. In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding lynda.com, please don’t hesitate to call our office at 660-785-7750 to ask any questions you may have. We encourage you to attend Constitution Day Events on campus today!